LONDON — The BBC apologized to Britain's Queen Elizabeth II Tuesday after revealing that she raised concerns with a previous government about radical cleric Abu Hamza, who faces extradition to the United States. In a rare clash between two pillars of British life, the broadcaster said it deeply regretted the breach of confidence after correspondent Frank Gardner reported comments that the monarch made to him. “This morning on the Today (radio) program our correspondent Frank Gardner revealed details of a private conversation which took place some years ago with the queen,” a BBC spokesman said. “The conversation should have remained private and the BBC and Frank deeply regret this breach of confidence. It was wholly inappropriate. “Frank is extremely sorry for the embarrassment caused and has apologized to the palace.” The European Court of Human Rights Monday rejected a final appeal by Egyptian born Abu Hamza and four other terror suspects after a long legal battle. Abu Hamza, the former imam of the Finsbury Park Mosque in North London, was jailed in Britain for seven years in 2006 for inciting followers to murder non-believers. But Gardner, the BBC's security correspondent, reported that the queen had quizzed the previous government before Hamza's initial arrest in 2004 as to why he was still a free man. “The queen was pretty upset that there was no way to arrest him, she couldn't understand why,” Gardner said. “This is a conversation we had a little while ago and she did say that she had mentioned to — I don't know which home secretary (interior minister) it was at the time — that was there not some law he had broken?” Buckingham Palace refused to comment. Abu Hamza was arrested in Britain at the request of US authorities, who have called him “a terrorist facilitator with a global reach.” They accuse him of assisting the taking of 16 hostages — including two American tourists — in Yemen in 1998 and of conspiring to set up a terrorist training camp in Bly, Oregon, between 2000 and 2001. He also is accused of conspiring with a US citizen to facilitate a jihad — or holy war — in Afghanistan and providing material support to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The cleric, who is blind in one eye and wears a hook for a hand, lost several British court cases in his fight against extradition before taking the case to the European court in 2008. Known for his fiery anti-Western and anti-Semitic outbursts, he claims he has lost his Egyptian nationality, but Britain considers him an Egyptian citizen. He is currently serving a seven-year prison term in Britain for separate charges of inciting hatred. The other four suspects due to be extradited to the US are Babar Ahmad, Syed Tahla Ahsan, Khaled Al-Fawwaz and Adel Abdul Bary. — Agencies
